Michigan Public, previously WUOM radio, posted a short article about the monorail proposal and its effect on the Arb, summarizing an interview with Professor Grese on its website. We appreciate the connection highlighting the risk that the proposed monorail project presents to the natural space of the Arb. It would have been great to have an audio file of the full discussion. 

The Michigan Public article includes a preliminary illustration from the Campus Plan 2050 which depicts a grouping of planned future campus buildings in a North Campus location along with an elevated transit system. The scale of the elevated structure is imposing. 

We found a view of the transit system - also shown above - in the Campus Plan 2050, p. 218, section that describes Mitchell Field. The illustration is disorienting, as an attempt to show currently non-existent structures in an existing landscape. Imagine passing the Veterans Administration Hospital on Fuller Road, traveling toward Mitchell Field. A new dorm or other building is illustrated on the left. The elevated superstructure runs high overhead and stretches toward the Huron River, the Arb, and the Medical Center. 

The current illustrations show the monorail in areas that have few trees and that are on a relatively flat horizontal plane. We are left to imagine what the superstructure would look like in the Arb –  an area with steep slopes and large trees. Given the scale, we anticipate that many trees in the Arb would be cleared to allow construction and maintenance of the transportation system. It’s hard to imagine how clearing space for such an imposing transit system is in sync with the Campus Plan 2050’s sustainability goals.  

We continue to assert that alternate routes are available that will safely support transportation and which allow an existing, beloved ecosystem to remain intact. We ask the University of Michigan and City of Ann Arbor decision makers to work together to apply creative ideas that avoid disruption of a fragile area of the Arb.

Please share the change.org/savethearb petition with all you know who care about the Arb. Let’s protect this special place far into the future!